.Hello

Oh hey blog, it's me Dianne. Do you remember me?

The last time there was a long pause between blog posts I announced I was pregnant...

I'm not pregnant.

I don't really have any other explanation than life happened. In the last six months I ran a half marathon, moved houses, moved offices, helped open Rogers Place, watched my baby really turn into a toddler, got two viral infections and one bad cold in a 2.5 month span and had a cough that lasted over three months, stopped working out, unpacked a lot of boxes, ramped up my Stella & Dot business, left Kendrick for the very first time for over 24 hours, planned a trip to Vegas with my girlfriends to see the Backstreet Boys in March 2017, had minor surgery, and raised money for the Mazankowski Heart Institute - in no particular order. Needless to say, it's been a little busy.

Let's rewind back to August. I didn't feel as prepared as I wanted to be for the Edmonton Half, however I was feeling pretty good. I ended up investing in some new runners a little over a month before the race (Nike Air Zoom Pegasus), and so far they have been very comfy! While I was at the start line I was still trying to decide whether I use the run/walk method or just run it out, and I ended up deciding to run it out. I was feeling ok for most of the race but started to get tired during the last 5K. At 18.5KM the 2:30 pace bunny ran by me and I decided that that I was way too close to hitting my goal to give up now...so I blew by them and almost sprinted the last 2.5KM. I ended up beating my personal best time and have a new PB of 2:28:33. 

Although I was happy, I KNOW I can do better and look forward to next year! I'm still not 100% sure when I'll be ready for baby #2, but for now I'm going to plan to run the Edmonton Half again, and possibly do some of the MEC races again although I was disappointed with their 15K's (aka they didn't have enough race marshals and I got lost on a couple of the routes) so hopefully they do get better in that department.

September and October were a bit of a blur! It was very busy at work and I admit that I let myself fall off the work out wagon. I ate out more, was lazy at night and didn't cook as often, and didn't have the energy to get up in the mornings to work out. I wanted to get back on track in November however that's when I started to get sick. It was viral infection after viral infection, and many trips to the doctor for them to tell me that there was nothing they could really do and it was very frustrating! Thankfully all that Kendrick ended up with was a runny nose for a few days. I did end up going to see my Naturopath who gave me some tips and now that I'm finished the meds for my cough I look forward to getting back on track and feeling better really soon! I also found out that I have 29 leftover passes at Moksha Yoga! 29!!!! It's been...oh I don't know...four or so years since I've been? I think I'm going to try and go this week and see if I can get it back into my routine again. 

We hosted Christmas dinner for the very first time ever at our new home! We moved at the end of August and I absolutely love it. Better neighbourhood, bigger and better house, and we couldn't be happier. We have an awesome bonus room now that is used as Kendrick's playroom and it's fantastic. Not to mention I swear our bedroom is twice the size and has an ensuite bathroom! It was so nice to be able to host Christmas dinner for our immediate families at our place, and we are pumped that the turkey and stuffing turned out and we didn't have to order pizza! :) 

Saw this quote on Facebook today and felt like it really spoke to me. 

I admit, I've been having a lot more "nothing" days lately simply because I've been so exhausted, mostly I think from being sick. Sometimes this working Mom thing is hard! But now that I'm starting to feel better and have a week off after Christmas to recharge, I'm looking forward to getting back into it and starting my New Year's resolutions early this year! My goal is to tone up and lose a bit around the belly before I head to Vegas in March, and I want to accomplish that by doing Yoga, going back to Blitz HIIT training (which I think is what helped me lose the last bit of baby weight at the beginning of 2016), doing stairs and running on some of my lunch breaks and doing some home work outs as well. I'm feeling good about 2017, are you?

It will not be six months before I write again! I promise!

xo

-Dianne

PS: After taking a bit of a break, I really ramped up my Stella & Dot business in November and it reminded me of how much fun it was (and how easy it was to make a little extra cash on the side!) If you are interested in beating the after Christmas blues and want to earn yourself some free jewelry to start the new year off right, email me at DianneCK39@gmail.com or tweet me @StyleByDianne and we'll set up a date! The new spring collection launches really soon and I'm looking for debut hostesses to show off the new line!

PPS: I went Boxing Day shopping today and it was awesome. I know some people don't understand why - but honestly, if you suck it up and go when the mall first opens first thing in the morning, it's not so bad! Maybe I saw that because all the stores I went to had no crazy lines, and I found a parking spot close to the door so I didn't have to bring in my jacket. All the clothes I bought today were 50-70% off! You can't go wrong with that! :)

.Faster

2:33:27

That's a full 10 MINUTES FASTER than my last personal best in 2013. 10 MINUTES! I'm sitting here a little over two weeks later and I still am not quite sure how I did it.

The Edmonton Half Marathon went really well. I worked my way up near the front of the pack at the start and slowly made my way to the side and kept up a good pace. My second kilometre was my fastest at 6:16, and my slowest kilometre was at the 19K mark at 7:49. I ran 5K in 33:35 which for me is pretty good! Ideally one day I'd like to get that under 30 minutes and get my 10K time under an hour; I'll get there eventually. The best was seeing Kendrick at the finish line! He did catch my eye for a split second as I ran by him and my friend Krissie who was gracious enough to watch him while I ran since Brian was out of town, and that was the best. I sped up and sprinted across the finish line. I could tell I really pushed it hard because my body felt like it was going to fall apart! I definitely need to do more cross training, especially since the Red Deer Super Spartan Race is coming up this weekend!

I wasn't expecting to beat my personal best by so much time especially 5.5 months after Kendrick, but now that I've done that I think I want to go for another personal best when I run the Vancouver Rock N Roll Half at the end of October. Originally I was thinking of having a goal of 2:20, but the race is less than two months away so I'm thinking a goal of 2:25 or 2:30 might be more realistic. I am so happy that the weather is cooling off, but I have to say I haven't been motivated to run lately. I've been tired and waking up in the morning is hard when the baby sleeps in (I know, I know, I am VERY lucky to have a baby who sleeps!). I'm going to go for a few runs and mix in some strength training this week so I can prepare for Spartan on Saturday, and then I'm going to get back and focus on my running again so I can aim for that personal best!

This also has me thinking about running a full in the next few years. One day there will hopefully be a baby number two, and I've heard that it's harder to lose the weight the second time so I'm thinking of possibly training for one next year. I think Vancouver will be a good pace marker in my decision, as if I can beat my personal best again it will provide me with a little more motivation! Right now when I finish running my lungs go back to normal pretty quick (even with my asthma) which to me means I can keep going. My body however is cramped, sore and I'm in pain. The soreness lasts usually a day or two and this has happened to me the last two times I've beaten my personal best. To me this means that I have to up my fitness level in other areas, such as strength training. When I used to do gymnastics we would do at least an hour of conditioning after every practice, so I'm thinking I'm going to start incorporating some of that in after every run to make my body stronger. I don't think I want to attempt a full marathon until I can get my half time under 2:15, but we'll see how I feel at the end of October.

According to my Nike Running app, my shoes are at 432 KM.

That doesn't include of course a lot of the walking I've done so I'm sure I'm close to 500 which means it's time for new kicks! I love the Nike Outlet because you can get such good deals on last year's shoes! I've been wearing Nike Flex Running 2013's, and I managed to find the same pair today (just different colours) for $49.99. WOO HOO! I tried on some other shoes and didn't like them nearly as much, so I'm sticking with what I know! I also may have bought Kendrick some baby Nike's as they were on sale for $20 and I couldn't resist. They are so darn cute!

xo
-Dianne

PS: Kendrick and I went to cheer Brian on at Tough Mudder this weekend in Drumheller, AB where the weather was absolutely terrible. It was +8 and raining the whole afternoon! I made the last minute decision to throw my Baby Bjorn carrier in the suitcase as I've been meaning to try it out with Kendrick for months. It ended up being one of the best decisions I've made all weekend! We figured out how to use it on Friday night and on Saturday I used it to carry Kendrick around while we waited for Brian to finish. AMAZING! There was so much mud it was disgusting, and seeing people push their strollers caked with mud was even worse. Instead of worrying about the stroller, Kendrick was snug as a bug next to my heart with two layers and a blanket on top with a touque. This also freed up my hands so I could carry an umbrella! He absolutely loved looking at everything and even took a couple of naps. I wish I would have started using it sooner! Does this make me a granola mom? Today we took Thor for a walk and he babbled and kicked the whole time. I also did some squats, and  with Kendrick being about 15lbs now it was a good work out! I never got into the woven wraps but I do really like the Baby Bjorn and will definitely be using it more often!

PPS: Since my banana peach oatmeal (lactation) muffins were such a hit, I did some pinteresting to see if I could come up with a new recipe to try out. I am close to perfecting a maple carrot cake version, so stay tuned! I'm hoping to post it next entry. 

.Yawn

I realized that it's been a lot longer than I thought since I ran last; nine days ago yesterday to be exact. Oopsie. I didn't mean to take a nine day break but between being busy, preparing for our trip, and being flat out tired it just didn't happen. I'm still learning to juggle life with a baby!

We just got back from Vegas on Saturday from Stella & Dot's national conference (Hoopla) and it went really well. Not only was the conference really good and very informative, but Kendrick was an absolute rock star. On the flight there I took people's advice and had his soother in for landing and take off and he didn't fuss at all. He just sat in my lap and stared at me! :) On the way home he was a little fussier as the flight was during his bed time (will try not to make that mistake again), but when he went to asleep he stayed asleep and we managed to get him home and in bed without him fully waking up! During the sessions he either slept or played with his toys, and when he got fussy and I picked him up, the people behind me made faces at him and he giggled and smiled. I couldn't have asked for a more well-behaved baby and now it's given me a lot of food for thought for when we travel to Australia in the fall!

So after doing a bunch of research I have decided that I'm going to purchase a Fitbit. I had one of the very first ones that clipped onto your pants and to be honest I didn't like it. But that was quite a few years ago and I think I'm ready to give it another chance. That being said, I'm not sure which one to buy! I thought I was pretty set on the Fitbit Charge HR however now I'm considering the Fitbit Surge. I really wanted something that has a heart rate monitor built right in, but that also tracks my sleep (for the past year or so, even before I got pregnant, I have been having problems sleeping for long periods of time). The big differences between the two are that you can get text messages on the Surge (doesn't really matter to me), change a song on your music (good, but really not a big deal to me), track multiple sports and the big one: GPS. As much as I love my Nike running app, it's not really meant for walking so when I use it for walks it brings down my average pace. It's not the end of the world, but I use that pace to figure out approximate KMs when I'm on a time limit. It would also be beneficial when I'm on vacation or running outside of Canada. The Nike app would cost me a lot to use data and I wouldn't be using it on hikes or other walks. Of course, there's also the $120 price difference ($179.99 VS $299.99). So many decisions! I still have some time to think about it as in either case I would want the blue or tangerine colors (basic black is way too boring) which haven't been released yet. Feel free to comment below if you have a preference one way or another, I'd love to hear feedback!

Speaking of sleeping terribly, I think it's time to make a trip to the doctor and the naturopath. I am a terrible sleeper. I am tired all day but when night time comes I find it really difficult to fall asleep and I wake up multiple times a night. These are the nights I should be sleeping because Kendrick has been sleeping through the night for about two months now! It's starting to really affect me so I'm going to see if I can figure out something. What are your tips for falling asleep at night?

xo

-Dianne

PS: Product Review: Yurbuds - $27 - Sport Chek

I have been looking for new ear buds as I find regular ones don't stay in my ears and I'm constantly re-adjusting them. I had ones that went around my ears but mid-run they would start to hurt so I was in the market for some new ones. I went to Sport Chek on the weekend and was looking at some $80 fancy ear buds when one of the workers came over and told me about Yurbuds and said one of his coworkers swore by them. It says "Guaranteed to Never Fall Out" right on the box, so I thought I'd give them a shot. 

As it turns out, they are awesome! I ran with them for the first time today and they were super comfortable and honestly didn't move, even though it was quite windy. I didn't have to re-adjust them once! I am very impressed and at a $29.99 price point they were worth every penny. They also sell sets for $40 and $50 but I couldn't see much of a difference other than the accessories so I decided on these ones. They also say they are specially made for women and have two sizes. Two thumbs up!

PPS: I know a few new mommies so I wanted to post some of my tips for air travel with a baby! I was very lucky that Kendrick was so good, but there were a few things that really helped me!

- Pay extra for the "plus" seats. On Westjet they are $50 and you get extra legroom, your first & second bag checked in free, and free food and drinks. Since you'd be paying $25 anyways for your bag, this is a no-brainer. If possible, also book seats A&C or D&F so there's a chance that no one will sit in between you! That extra seat is a bonus.

- You're probably going to bring more than you need. I packed way too many diapers, outfits and formula. But you just never know and it's better to be safe than sorry!

- Feed or give baby a soother during landing and take off. It helps pop their little ears!

- If you can help it, don't fly in the evening. I had to wash bottles and pump in the airport because we checked out of our hotel at 10:30AM and didn't leave until 8:30PM! If given the choice I would fly in the morning or afternoon

- Check with your airline but you should be allowed to take a diaper bag along with your own carry on and personal item. I kept all baby stuff in the diaper bag along with extra outfits, food and diapers. You never know when there will be a delay! You are allowed to take formula and breast milk through customs, just take it out for security so they can scan it.

- I found people around me were really helpful! If he started getting fussy the people behind me or beside me would make faces at him and he'd smile and giggle. It was a big help!

- Don't be afraid to ask for help. I find that hard sometimes but people (especially the flight attendants) will be happy to hold your baby for a moment while you get organized!

.Smile

April 14th, 2015: Kendrick smiles for the first time (and it's not even because he has gas!)

I don't plan to be one of those moms who document online every little thing my child does, but having the first smile happen today melted my heart a little more than usual. I had been reading some things online and read that the first smile usually happens around the six week mark. So I had been anxiously waiting and when he was awake trying to make faces and talk to him so he would smile. Until today, his only semi-smiles happened when he was gassy - which was pretty funny but not really the same. I am one happy mama! :)

It's been a bit of a tough week. My Nonno (grandpa in Italian) passed away yesterday after being in the hospital since Thursday night. I am so thankful that Easter happened and we all got to spend some time together before he passed away. I was able to take a four generations picture with my son, my Mom and my grandparents and Nonno was able to meet and hold Kendrick. I won't forget the looks on my grandparents faces when we brought him over to them for the very first time. I haven't seen them that happy in a really long time and that in turn made me very happy! We spent some time every day at the hospital since Thursday and every time Kendrick was able to bring some sunshine into the room just by being himself. We are so lucky that he's been such a good baby; he doesn't mind being passed around and doesn't play strange with anyone. He also has periods where he's wide awake and very interactive and is starting to make faces and noises that just light up the room! I can tell it's been therapeutic for especially my mom and Nonna, and yesterday when we found out the terrible news cuddling him made me feel better too. It's kind of like puppy therapy: go into a room full of puppies and it's hard to stay sad! The same goes for babies, and I'm so happy that Kendrick got to meet his Bisnonno (great grandpa) before he passed away.

Since I've been leaving my house more than average these past few days, I've really started to realize how little clothes I have that are fitting comfortably. I'll be real for a moment and say that I've lost about 20ish pounds since Kendrick was born (by doing absolutely nothing because I can't) which has been great but it's kind of hit a plateau. This is to be expected since I haven't been able to work out, and although I'm not eating terribly I admit it's pretty hard to eat three balanced meals a day while I'm taking care of a newborn. I've noticed that some of the weight I've gained has been in the legs and even arms, so I'm in between my normal clothes and maternity clothes at the moment. Not to mention that any pants that are remotely tight bother my c-section incision so I can't wear those either. 

This means I hate practically my whole closet. 

I suppose if I look at the positive it means that I get to go shopping. I've been able to sell a couple of decorations and things from my wedding so I'm going to head to Lululemon and pick up another pair of running leggings. Not only are they comfy right now, but I'll be able to wear them when I start running again too! At home I wear loose fitting sweatpants and plain tees so it's very comfy but I don't really feel comfortable leaving the house looking like I just got out of bed. It's a big change but I'm hoping once I'm able to get active again I'll be able to shed that extra 25 pounds and feel fabulous again!

Six more days til my six week appointment! Fingers crossed for good news!

xo

-Dianne

PS: Remember my excitement about heading to the Urban Diner for eggs benedict the last post? Well, that was ruined. The manager/part owner was extremely rude to my friend because her child was crying for awhile. Disappointing for a local business but this isn't my first negative experience there and now I won't be going back. 

That being said - where is the BEST eggs benedict in the city?! All suggestions welcome!